Guess Who's Coming To Dinner
by Dark Videl
Summary: "Now aren't you glad Naruto was your first kiss?" If he thought being molested by the family pet would be the worst thing that could happen, Sasuke Uchiha was wrong.
1. BEGINNINGS

**Title:** Guess Who's Coming To Dinner

**Rating:** PG 13

**Genre:** Romance/Humor

**Pairing:** Sasuke/Sakura, mild Naruto/Hinata

**Summary:** If he thought being molested by the family pet would be the worst thing that happened, Sasuke Uchiha was wrong. Welcome to the dinner from Hell.

**Blanket Disclaimer:** The series Naruto and related characters are the property Kishimoto-san, unless noted otherwise. No profit has been made from this work of fandom nor copyright infringement is intended. Please refer to this, if need be, for future chapters.

**Author's Notes:** Originally a one-shot that exceeded over thirty pages - yes, that many for a stupid one shot, I decided to separate them into individual chapters because I thought the original draft left certain things unanswered and I personally wanted to have more fun with these characters. This is the second to longest chapter of this story.

This story was inspired into completion by discussions in the SasuSaku FC about the Haruno household. There some out of character, as I wanted so humor alongside the seriousness, especially when it came to Sasuke. Please enjoy.

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**CHAPTER ONE - BEGINNINGS**

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There was one thing you can count on when you're out and about in Konoha, or just about any village really, and that was gossip. It didn't matter who or what it was about, as long as it was juicy. The bigger the scandal, the faster it spread. If one thought it ended in the teenage years, they would be terribly mistaken.

"You didn't hear this from me," A woman whispered the classic gossip opener to her friend over a cup of hot tea, pretending as if she didn't know someone was obviously behind them, "But apparently Sakura-san is dating _that_ traitor."

Initially, it came as quite a surprise to Ayaka Haruno to hear from the grape vine - which was just a bunch of women that had nothing else to do than sit around drinking tea and spread nasty little rumors about everyone in the village, that her daughter was dating Sasuke Uchiha.

At first, disbelief washed over Ayaka even as she pretended to look unaffected, least she let those old hags think they could get to her now that they were all out of school. Even after leaving the tea shop, Ayaka's mind was plagued with thoughts of Sasuke Uchiha.

From what she'd heard about Sasuke, starting with his clan being murdered and the things he did after betraying Konoha, she couldn't believe Sakura would start dating him. Of course, Ayaka knew of her daughter's feelings for the boy, it was no secret to anyone with eyes. But after everything, to this confused mother, Sakura always seemed to give the impression that Konoha came first.

But then when it came to the heart, Ayaka reasoned, nothing was black and white.

Now, Ayaka was a lot of things - a hopeless romantic at heart and just plain crazy were some descriptions that her husband would jokingly use. But she wasn't a person that took gossip as her only form of information. However, Ayaka didn't exactly want to brooch the subject with Sakura just yet with nothing but idle chitchat as her source, so she found herself literally playing ninja.

It was utterly ridiculous how such a plan even formed in the mind of a mild-mannered shopkeeper's wife. But what was more ridiculous than the actual idea, was how Ayaka schemed and carried out this illogical plan. From clumsily climbing up trees like a cat, to dressing up like a merchant using her husband's old tattered clothes, enlisting on sugar driven teenagers to listen in for her by bribing them with dango from the family shop, and even dangling dangerously from banisters to catch glimpses of the suppose couple.

Quite honestly, it came to a point that her own husband was seriously considering sending her to the hospital for them to run some tests on her brain. But, despite her dutifully going about this day in a day out, it wasn't long before even Ayaka herself began to question her unusual ways of gathering information on Sakura's love life.

Even asking Naruto and Ino proved to be a dead-end. Both these best friends were as informed about whether or not Sasuke and Sakura were more than just friends as she was considering that their behavior towards one another didn't seem entirely different since Sasuke's return.

**"They would've told me. We're friends." Naruto had said when she'd asked him on his way to see the hokage. **

**As for Ino, she'd said, "Sakura would've told me. She can't keep a secret. At all."**

They'd both seem confident, but also apparently a bit unaware of the rumors going around too.

Ayaka couldn't take not knowing though. The uncertainty was unbearable. It wasn't because she was a nosey person by nature, but simply a protective mother that was bounded by love.

From the first few days, Ayaka could see just in the simple way Sakura spoke and even glanced at the broody nin from the corner of her eye that Sasuke Uchiha was again becoming the center of her heart. But that wasn't exactly enough to satisfy her in proving the rumors true or not, but it was more than enough to terrify her.

After seeing the damage Sasuke caused after abandoning Konoha and his teammates, which remained the real motivation of her mission, she was determined to break them apart if she saw no sign of this romance being requited. Ayaka wasn't sure what she could do, as her daughter was just as stubborn as she was and an adult, but she'd do just about anything. Sakura was not going to get her heart broken by that boy again, no matter how good-looking he was up close.

Nearly a week later, Ayaka decided that particular sunny morning would be her final day of investigation. Her body was close to rebelling as she wasn't nearly as flexible nor had the same stamina as she did years ago. If today proved to not yield any results, she would simply confront her daughter and hope she would tell the truth.

Sasuke and Sakura were on the hospital roof top when Ayaka arrived, apparently during Sakura's lunch break. Ayaka was crouched down, hiding behind the building across the street, binoculars in hand, and her eyes ready. But she couldn't exactly make out what was being said.

At first, Ayaka concluded it was nothing more than just a boring conversation, as neither of them were giving off any romantic vibes or even standing remotely close to one another.

And just when Ayaka really considered leaving via the fire escape route and call it quits, Sakura suddenly grabbed Sasuke by the collar, pulled him down to her, and kissed him - hard.

That spontaneous act nearly made Ayaka topple over from shock and embarrassment. But judging from how wide eyed Sasuke himself had been, that aggressive move managed to knock him for a loop as well. Of course, Ayaka noted, that didn't stop _him_ from later reciprocating.

It took only a few seconds before Ayaka's entire face turned bright red from watching them. Suddenly feeling awkward and a bit more uncomfortable, she scurried towards the fire escape.

**i.**

In a slight daze, Ayaka somehow managed to walk home. She even managed to put away all her suppose ninja gear and put on some water to boil tea. While she changed her clothes, she tried to figure out her feelings upon discovering the truth - or what she'd perceived was the truth.

Her maternal instincts began raging war between the need to protect her daughter from heartbreak again and the need to remember that her daughter had been doing well since being pushed from the nest. It was a battle that even a soothing soak in her bath tub did little to help.

Ayaka silently wished her own mother was still around as she would've given her some guidance.

The smell of jasmine greeted Ayaka when she came downstairs, for she'd left a pot brewing while she'd gone upstairs to change clothes. But what took her by surprise was seeing Sakura at the table pouring them both a cup of tea when she'd been at the hospital just an hour ago.

With two cups of newly brewed tea between them, Sakura didn't beat around the bush about why she was there in the kitchen. She told her mother that the rumors were true and that she was dating Sasuke - or rather they were "trial dating" for the past three months to see if a relationship was in their future before making any official announcement.

"Trial dating?" Ayaka asked, never once hearing of such a thing. It sounded like something a man of these days would suggest rather than a woman, she supposed. How utterly unromantic.

"To be honest, Sasuke-kun and I saw you the entire time." Sakura then offered her thoroughly shocked mother an apologetic smile. "But we never thought you'd last so long though..."

"Trust me, I could have gone weeks." Ayaka lied, not entirely liking the idea of them laughing about her antics behind her back, and she shyly leaned forward. "So that...err that kiss..."

"It was staged...well, it started off as staged." Sakura was thankfully her mother had left when she had, otherwise she would've had a lot of explaining to do on what had occurred on that roof.

Ayaka was utterly speechless. If husband had been there, he probably would've died from shock because for as long as they'd been together, she'd always had something to say or smile about.

Grounding Sakura for making a fool out of her own mother - and letting her go through all that nonsense for over a week, seemed futile since her daughter lived in her own apartment and it wasn't as if she held a gun to her head and made her do all those silly things. But it _would_ sort of feel good saying it anyways.

It was a difficult pill for Ayaka to swallow, as she still couldn't separate the Sasuke from rumor from the Sasuke her daughter apparently was in love with. But Ayaka knew there was little she could do to change her daughter's mind. But that didn't stop her from making a request.

"Invite him to the picnic." Or rather it was suppose to be request, even though it sounded more like a command.

"Err...what?" Sakura was floored by Ayaka's oh so casual demand. Naruto had always been enough to drive her father crazy, but to introduce Sasuke would make him go into cardiac arrest.

"Oh relax, Sakura." Ayaka waved her hand in a dismissive manner and even laughed as if her suggestion wasn't dangerous. "Not as your boyfriend since you're 'trial dating,' but simply so your father and I can get to know him as a person and not from what the rumor mill has turned him into."

She hesitated. "Err...I well...Actually, picnics aren't exactly Sasuke-kun's style."

Among other things.

"That may be true. But the very least he can do is be polite and come. If he cares for you, surely he'd want to meet your parents...unless you're ashamed of us, Sakura-chan."

Sakura stared at her mother, unable to grasp at how suddenly she could turn the tables and now act as if she were an innocent pup being wrongly scolded rather than the original schemer.

Sakura sighed, utterly defeated. "I'll talk to him. _But_ don't set your hopes up."

"Of course not, Sakura." But her mother looked like a cat that was just about got the canary.

**ii.**

"Do you need something?" Sasuke asked, no longer able to ignore her frantic movements.

Sakura had been on the rooftop with him for over half an hour, most of which consisted of her pacing back and forth, all the while mumbling to herself. He didn't mind her company, as it was a lot more bearable than being around Naruto, but this was becoming annoying and distractive. He was already in a sour mood having to do all these silly house repairs for a bitter old woman.

"Me? Oh uh nothing." Sakura said with a nervous little laugh that neither of them brought.

"Sakura." He gave her his full attention then, as he was just about finished cleaning the gutters.

After a full minute passed under that scrutinizing glare of his, which really belonged in an interrogation room and not in everyday life, Sakura caved and blabbed, "My mother wants to invite you to a picnic so you guys can meet. I know it's not exactly your thing and you're probably busy with your community service so-"

"I'll go." He interjected.

"Huh?" She was more surprised that he'd actually understood her rambling, as she was certain she didn't, since his agreement to attend the event had yet to sink in.

"I'll go." He repeated then turned back to the gutters. "I need to get back to work, but I'll be there."

Sakura smiled so wide that Sasuke wondered if he should somehow be a bit concerned. However, she didn't notice that slight frown of his. Instead, she was caught between joy and worry, for she hoped now that with him going her parents would see that he was a good person.

A little moody? Yes. But still a good person.

As if sensing that little moment, the old woman came out with her adorable white little kitten that trailed behind her, and yelled up with her broom swinging a little in the air, "You're supposed to be cleaning out the gutters, not placing kissy face with your girlfriend, Uchiha!"

However, the homeowner went ignored by the pair who were doing the exact opposite of her accusation. Annoyed that she couldn't get to either of them, she stormed right back inside and slammed the door with such a force that was atypical for her age group.

**iii.**

If there was one thing Ayaka Haruno was good at after nearly twenty years of marriage, it was making her husband's blood pressure go up - unintentionally or not.

"He's coming _here_? Today? Now? Why didn't you tell me?" Kichiro Haruno demanded and leaped out from the bed like if it were on fire. He couldn't believe his wife would spring such a thing on him like that!

"Because I didn't want to give you enough time to find a pitchfork?" Ayaka replied with a slight shrug of the shoulders and began to brush her shoulder length hair in front of the mirror as if she didn't just drop a big bomb.

"This is no time to joke, Ayaka! Why is _he_ coming to the picnic?" Kichiro all but snarled. He then looked pleadingly at his wife's reflection. "Ayaka-chan, isn't that Naruto kid enough?"

Ayaka frowned, as she found Naruto rather refreshing and energetic like herself, and didn't entirely understand his dislike for the bubbly youth. "Sasuke-kun is also her teammate and friend. He wanted to come. So who am I to say no?"

"Are you serious? How could you not say no to that...that _boy_!" It took all of Kichiro's control not to call Sasuke a few other colorful words and it took all of his wife's control not to roll her eyes.

It was then Kichiro actually spotted the trio, from their bedroom window, as they neared the house. They were walking so close as if they were joined by their hips. His daughter was in between her teammates actually laughing beside that traitor as if it was nothing unusual or bad, as if he hadn't broken her heart and the village's trust in him. It made his blood begin to boil.

"Don't get yourself so worked up." Ayaka said, easily reading his facial expression. "Get to know him before you decide to write him off."

"I don't need to 'get to know him,' Ayaka. I'll _never_ like a person like him." Kichiro grunted and moved away from their bedroom window, as if he was utterly disgusted by the sight of Sasuke.

Ayaka wanted to point out how similar the Uchiha and him were, despite their backgrounds, but decided against it considering her husband's current irrational state. "Like him or not. That's entirely up to you. But you _have_ to at least be civil - or I _will_ kill you."

Kichiro scowled because he knew it wasn't an empty threat. He had seen the bruises on an old boyfriend of hers that never made him doubt that hidden within her petite form was a dangerous wildcat. Then again, that old boyfriend had tried to do some shady things to her prior to that incident and as far as he was concerned demanding to have Sasuke leave wasn't illegal.

"Stop making such gory threats." He replied, seemingly unaffected. "It's not exactly ladylike."

Ayaka's right eyebrow twitched and she folded her arms firmly across her chest. "I'm quite ladylike, thank you very much. Now, if you're excuse me, I have to be a good hostess."

"_I'm_ a good host too, you know." He replied back, to which she actually snorted in return.

"Not in your underpants, you're not." Ayaka replied nonchalantly and closed the door. Not too long after, her husband yelped upon realizing he was indeed only in his underwear and probably just shown the world just that.

By the time the trio arrived at the front door, Ayaka Haruno was outside to greet them.

"Ah, you're all here right on time!" Ayaka smiled and dragged out the large basket with remarkable strength for a such a small woman. "I packed a big picnic for us all! Oh, and some games that I hope you enjoy."

Ayaka's gaze fell upon Sasuke then, who seemed so out of place among three chattering people. She offered him a gentle smile, to which he didn't respond to.

"Sasuke Uchiha." He finally said, perhaps feeling it was only polite to introduce himself to her.

Ayaka searched Sasuke's face, then she eyed his entire body fully, and drew her own conclusion. Obviously, the boy was uncomfortable about being there, despite his aloof look, and maybe he needed some reassurance on where he stood in her eyes as his "trial girlfriend's" mother. She considered herself an intimating woman, after all, even if she was a few inches shorter than him.

"Sasuke-kun, I'm so glad that you made it!" Ayaka grinned, not caring that she was being a bit forward for their first meeting. From him, she truly sensed a good, but once misguided, heart and coming to this picnic only further that belief of hers.

"Ayaka-chan, aren't you happy to see me too?" Naruto pouted, wondering how she could miss _him_ when he was dressed in orange of all colors.

"But of course! No one appreciates my cooking like you do." Ayaka smiled at Naruto, who began to blush faintly, and then turned back to look when the door closed from behind her.

Kichiro stood at the doorway, casually dressed for the day, but looked peeved with the house keys in hand. He didn't waste any time to show his disgust by sneering at Sasuke. As childish as it was and unsatisfying, since Sasuke didn't look like he cared, he certainly wasn't going to put on some act and pretend to be all cheery with that traitor standing right in front of him.

Ayaka sent him a warning glare, which Kichiro ignored. A few more seconds of glaring proved enough for him to cave. Satisfied that her husband would at least act like an adult for the day, she grinned and turned to everyone else, "To the park!"

Naruto was the loudest in the cheering squad, ignoring Sasuke's pointed glare and Kichiro sour mood.

And so, with Ayaka Haruno and Naruto Uzumaki leading, the picnic was underway.

But it seemed the quick silent prayer Kichiro did before going outside did him some good because a few minutes later, it began to rain and shortly after that the picnic was called off.

Of course, Kichiro Haruno should've known it wouldn't be that easy.

.

.

.

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**PREVIEW OF THE NEXT CHAPTER:**

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"Because, my darling, Sasuke-kun is Sakura's boyfriend. That's why."

"**Since when**?" Naruto and Kichiro had exclaimed, eyes wider than saucepans.

Ayaka had then promptly covered her mouth, as she'd now seen that her flaring temper had gotten the best of her, and timidly waved apologetically at Sakura, who had been unsure if she'd wanted to kiss her mother or kill her for blabbing.


	2. PEP TALK

**Title:** Guess Who's Coming To Dinner

**Rating:** PG 13

**Disclaimer:** Refer to Chapter One

**Author's Notes:** Thank you everyone for your reviews and favorites. Since I've completed writing the actual story and only need to post, I plan to update bi weekly so I can hopefully hunt down errors to the best of my abilities. I promise things will get more interesting for the dinner once everything has been set up as this isn't a one-shot.

_Note:_ If you read the first original posting of this story, you'll notice this is a split of the original chapter one. I did this because the chapters were still too long after the first initial splitting. During this process, I went through and changed several things so some material is new in the previous chapter and this one.

The next newest chapter will be posted approximately two weeks from now.

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**CHAPTER TWO - PEP TALK **

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If there was one thing Sakura had to list as her favorite thing as being a medic, it was seeing her patient pull through. If they even managed to smile afterwards, that was a bonus.

"You're going to be fine now, Mr. Jiao. We're almost done." Sakura said, even though the middle age man was still a bit drowsy and probably wouldn't remember what she was saying.

"You actually did it." Karin murmured, seemingly impressed despite the slight aggravated tone. She then walked out of the room alongside Suigetsu and another medic, who had called for her to the room.

No doubt Karin wasn't happy about being dragged out of her bed after pulling a 12 hour shift the night before only to have another person take care of things right when she got there. Then again, not many people would be chipper about that sort of situation.

No sooner had Karin stepped out that door did a patient walking down the hallway compliment her. Seconds later a muffled wise crack came from Suigetsu that resulted in a painful punch to the head that resulted in insults being through like pigs in a mud pen.

It wasn't new, as it had been occurring for the past three weeks since Tsunade had allowed Karin to work in the hospital as part of her community service, under Sakura's supervision rather than serve a possible prison sentence.

To the male patients, Karin was the apparent new favorite among the sea of familiar faces.

It wasn't the outfits, as there was a strict dress code for the hospital especially for the female staff.

And certainly not her hair, as it wasn't that unusual in color or design.

It was actually how she went about healing patients. As if no one saw that one coming.

When Sakura had learned about Karin's different way to heal the injured, initial she found it fascinating. After all, it was quite an efficient method. That is until Karin had made a jib about how Sasuke bit her and how it was almost "orgasmic". That led to the two into a glaring match over the conference table that somehow later developed into a strained but growing friendship.

Nevertheless, Karin's abilities found themselves quite useful in Konoha's busy hospital. She saved such a techniques only for the critical care unit, as it would be a waste otherwise. Even so, once she treated one patient, minus the orgasmic experience as she no longer really felt that sort of rush anymore, the word spread faster on the tongues of the men than flames from wildfires.

It wasn't as if Sakura was jealous by the diverted attention from her and her other co-workers.

She was merely miffed.

Sakura didn't exactly like the flow of patients that insisted on pretending that their wounds needed more attention than necessary. It caused too much of an overload and additional hours for the medics, nurses, and the physicians who were already swamped with the real critically injured patients.

Of course, whenever Karin seemed to be lapping up the attention and appreciative stares as there were predictably good looking patients that complimented her alongside the old perverts, in walks Suigetsu from his duties on the psych ward like clockwork - since he no longer was being examined by the head medical staff to further understand Orochimarou's experiments, and the two would begin to bicker louder than an old married couple on a hot musky summer day.

Juugo, thankfully, would try to calm Karin and Suigetsu down for everyone's best interest. But he usually found himself yelled at by his former teammates and would then make himself scarce.

It wouldn't be long before the noise would reach an unbearable level for everyone, other than the bickering duo, and would soon lead to Tsunade coming down there to threaten to kill them both if they didn't respect the hospitals rules. Later, after a drink or two, the hokage would demand to know why she'd ever thought of keeping the pair working there and not locked up in the penitentiary.

In the end, it was a never ending weekly circus on that floor.

Sakura wiped the sweat off her brow and took a step back from the bed, but staggered a bit before steadying herself. However, no one seemed to have noticed as they either nodded in approval or gushed about her performance.

The physician stood by the EKG machine, watching the waves return back within normal limits, and knew the patient was no longer in danger of dying. "Patient has regain some level of consciousness...his heart has rhythm again...good skin turgor...lungs expanding at their maximum...we can probably take him off the oxygen in a few minutes if he continues progressing at this rate."

"We'll have them draw some blood and run tests." A medic stated, adjusting the IV bags that were infusion blood back into the patient. "But everything looks good. We almost lost him there. He's a miracle, that's what. If they hadn't found him when they did, he wouldn't have got here in time."

"To have that amount of chakra control and heal with such precision...What they said about the medics here must be true. You're amazing, Sakura-san!"

The other medic beside him was just about glowing with pride. After all, as far as this woman was concerned, a compliment about one medic, was like a compliment about them all. "Sakura-chan _is_ amazing. She's the hokage's apprentice, after all."

Their voices seemed further away now, as if they were miles away instead of standing beside her. Soon after, they began to look blurry, their voices fainter, and the room began to spin.

"Eh? Really?" The physician looked shocked at the news. "The hokage? I never knew that."

Sakura, ignored by the chattering trio but noticed by the semi conscious patient, blinked a few times and steadied herself against the wall. She then reached for the nearby chair, but missed.

"_Where_ have _you_ been?" The medic demanded, but she ignored his attempt to answer by continuing like a faithful news reporter. "They're both like legends around here. You know, I myself might have been chosen to study under the hokage."

"In what lifetime?" Her fellow medic retorted, as she clearly felt of the two she was the more likely candidate.

Suddenly, in the mist of the bickering between the two medics, strange black spots began forming, clouding Sakura's dimming vision. Somehow her feet obeyed her and she managed to turn to her co-workers and say, "Hey you guys, I think..."

More and more black spots. Less color. And even less sound.

"Sakura-san, are you okay?" The physician asked, approaching her with concerned blue eyes, but he appeared half blurred and barely there with all those small black grayish dots.

"You don't look too good." The medic, who had been praising Sakura earlier, followed him.

"Someone catch her!" He yelled.

And then, everything went black.

**i.**

The first thing Sakura saw when she awoke was the ceiling, which she noticed was a completely different color from the hospital's. The next was the faint smell of liquor and perfume.

Groggily, Sakura slowly sat up and looked around, finally realizing she was not on her floor. She wasn't even in that patient's room anymore. In fact, she was in the hokage's office. On her couch.

"So, I see you're awake." Tsunade said, sitting at her large desk, a pen in hand. "I was beginning to get worried."

"What am I doing here?" Sakura looked around. "I was downstairs in the ER and now..."

"You fainted after you took care of your last patient. Luckily Suigetsu had been there, drifting around as usual, and brought you to my office with that Karin girl. Apparently someone overworked herself."

"Overworked herself?" She parroted. She still sounded confused.

Tsunade, who normally didn't care for people repeating after her like that, let that slide as her student was still clearly disorientated. "You used too much chakra by taking on too many patients in a short time frame and didn't inform me that you were short staffed."

"We weren't short staffed today and I didn't have time for any of that. He could have died."

"And _you _could have died on that table with him." Tsunade retorted and her student fell silent, bowing her head slightly then. "Tell me...this has nothing to do with that Karin intern, right?"

"Of course not!" Sakura snapped and then lowered her voice, "Why would you think that?"

"It was just an afterthought. " Tsunade reassured her. "Well, now that you're awake and the CT scan came back showing no cerebral damages, I think some good ole fashion rest is in order."

"Ole fashion..." Sakura frowned. "What are you saying?"

"You're not allowed to use your chakra until they've been returned to normal." Tsunade quickly waved off Sakura's oncoming protests even before she opened her mouth. "I don't want to hear that you feel fine. And while we're at it, _I'll_ decide when you're back on the floor."

Sakura frowned, her mentor knew her all too well. "So I'm being saddled with paper work?" It was next to doing next to nothing, like she was back to doing D ranked missions, which she hated.

"No, you're going to have a nice date with your boyfriend at your parents', followed by an undecided timeframe for non-medic related activities. What they are and with whom is not my business as long as you're safe."

At first, Sakura didn't know what Tsunade was talking about, but she soon began to remember.

**"What a shame." Kichiro had said, although his attempt to make himself sound sympathetic was ruined since he was too damn happy about the downpour.**

**"Not necessarily." Ayaka had said, for she refused to be deterred by the ruined picnic. She would have her way. " You should come over for dinner on Friday, Sasuke-kun, so that we can all get to know each other better." **

**"Wait. Why is he invited?" Kichiro had demanded. **

**That Friday night was supposed be their stupid family night, not that he thought it was stupid but apparently she must have thought so, and that boy was not a Haruno for goodness sakes. It would make no sense for him to be invited. How could she even suggest such a thing?**

**Ayaka had eyed her husband warily, which indicated that she hadn't approve of his rudeness. But, like his wife and daughter, he was one stubborn mule and continued to glare at her, while impatiently waiting for an answer.**

**"Because, my darling, Sasuke-kun is Sakura's boyfriend. That's why."**

**"_Since when_?" Naruto and Kichiro had exclaimed, eyes wider than saucepans. **

**Ayaka had then promptly covered her mouth, as she'd now seen that her flaring temper had gotten the best of her, and timidly waved apologetically at Sakura, who had been unsure if she'd wanted to kiss her mother or kill her for blabbing. **

How did Tsunade know about her dinner date with Sasuke and her parents? Sure, Sakura must have mentioned it sometime in the past to her mentor, as she had about the trial dating, but up until three days ago no date had been set and Tsunade wasn't anywhere to be found at the time.

And, come to think of it, was Tsunade implying something sexual with that 'safe' comment. Surely she wasn't suggesting anything would occur, was she? Then again, it was open to interpretation considering that past experience had shown a state of low chakra was dangerous and assuming anything without clarification with Tsunade was a foolish thing to do.

"Now off you go." Tsunade made a shooing gesture at her student as if she were a pest now.

"Are you kidding me?" Sakura sounded a bit more annoyed than when Tsunade had first made her decision just a little earlier. "What am I suppose to do?"

"Sakura, I thought I just went over that. We both know you're not without a life outside these walls. If anything, read a book or sleep in like any normal person. Now I suggest you go before I _do_ assign you with a week of paperwork because this stack isn't going anywhere anytime soon."

Sakura knew glaring or bickering with Tsunade was a lost cause, as she had more years more under her belt than her student. Not only was she her boss but she was the _hokage_ as well.

"Okay." Sakura knew that Tsunade was right, even if she would've wanted to argue otherwise.

Tsunade nodded, satisfied with Sakura's muttered reply, and turned back to her mountain size stack of papers with a grimace. Just as her student went to turn the door knob, she added, "Oh, and tell that _prick_ of yours that he's all out of favors."

She frowned. "Prick?"

Said prick himself was waiting outside the hokage's doors when she stepped outside, both hands in his pocket, his body resting up against the cool wall. He looked good - damn good, freshly showered judging from his damp hair and the faint smell of body soap coming from him.

"I'm fine." Were the first words that came out of Sakura's mouth. When Sasuke didn't say anything, only narrowed his eyes a bit, she added, "Okay, a little dizzy for a second back there, but I'm not in any danger."

"You were reckless." Sasuke stated.

As he'd expected, she became defensive. "I was doing my job. Besides, you do it all the time."

Sasuke was about to say something, something that no doubt would've gotten him in trouble with the currently irritated medic, but he wisely choose to close his mouth instead of opening that can of worms. Instead, he chose safer words. "We can reschedule, you know."

It took Sakura a few seconds to understand what Sasuke was talking about. "Not a chance. My mother's been waiting for this day since forever. I couldn't do that to her and if we did cancel, she'd get herself worked up by worrying herself."

"And your father?"

"She even made a special dinner just for you." Sakura then rapidly began to mentally check off an impressive list of food that her mother planned to make for this special occasion.

Her avoidance to his question was answer enough, Sasuke suppose.

Well, it was what was expected, after all. Before Sasuke had left, things would've been different when it came to meeting her parents, but things weren't different.

Not all of the villagers trusted him, with good reason they would argue. Some would still crossed the street to avoid walking near him while others glared from the safety of their homes or shrank back behind one another. There were several rumors going around, some of which rode along the lines of the truth and flat out lies, but none of which was particularly nice.

Some were just stupid like the rumor that he ate little children that lied or he gleefully maimed children that didn't eat their vegetables before leaving the dinner table. And of course, he somehow stole the souls of girls that snuck out to meet their boyfriends at night.

Others pissed him off such as talk that Sakura was a "selfish little tramp" and a "disrespectful traitor" to be going around "laying with such a flea ridden dog". There were those that said Naruto was "too stupid and wishy-washy" and shouldn't be even considered to be hokage as he had "bad taste in friends" and hadn't "disposed of the trash".

And while Sakura and Naruto tried to brush the comments off with jokes, sometimes swearing to rearrange a few heads and organs if any of those people had been bold enough to say such things to their faces, Sasuke knew those words had hurt on some level.

There was a time he didn't understand why they would be willing to endure such ridicule, to walk proudly by his side as if it was the most normal thing to do, but nowadays he knew he would've done the same for them.

It made no difference what the crime because they were all willing to go to Hell and back for one another no matter how many blisters and burns they would have to show for their trouble. Whatever it took, no matter how long, or how hard it would be.

They were like a family. And tonight would be no different.

As the pair stepped outside and the list was long concluded, Sakura turned to Sasuke and grinned. "Everything will be fine."

"I'm not nervous." Sasuke simply said, as if he could read her thoughts or perhaps what he perceived were her thoughts.

"Of course not. I know that. You're Sasuke-kun." Sakura gave his hand a slight squeeze and offered him a reassuring smile. "But I'm kind of nervous though, you know."

Sasuke returned the gesture, though his smile looked more like a grimace.

"You'll be fine." Sasuke said, though it sounded as if he was saying it more so to himself, and he wanted so badly to believe that. But damn it if his hands weren't a bit sweaty and the fact that she was holding one of them didn't help in proving how confident he was in himself.

However, Sakura didn't say anything even though she'd have to be dead not to feel how clammy his palm was and knowing her, she had to have picked up on the change of pitch in his voice. But she didn't make no indication whatsoever that she'd noticed. Instead, she simply launched into a story about how a patient tried to sneak liquor from the hokage's office in the hospital.

Sasuke didn't tell Sakura that the change of topic was well appreciated, that it slightly eased his I'm-not-nervous jitters and he somehow felt almost amused by that tale even though he found the patient to be foolish in his attempts at getting the hokage's liquor.

No.

Sasuke didn't have to, because from that smile of hers as she neared the end of her story, told him that she knew. But just in case he was somehow wrong, Sasuke squeezed her hand a second time and now his attempt at a smile was one up from a grimace.

But even with his handsome facial features, his attempt at a smile would no doubt still scare away the village children and have them racing home to confess about giving their vegetables to the dog and sneaking out after their bedtime.

But despite that, to her, it was a precious thing.

Sakura easily returned the smile and then a thought struck her. "Hey, I just noticed that most of the food have tomatoes involved in there somehow. I think you really made a good first impression on my mother."

She winked and continued," I better watch out otherwise she might try to steal you out from under me."

Sasuke snorted.

She laughed.

He smirked.

A few blocks later, Sasuke felt a bit better about meeting Sakura's parents and accomplishing this important and awkward milestone, even though they more than likely hated his guts almost as much as half the village - if not more.

At least that's how he felt up until they arrived at the front door.

No one could've predicted what happened next.

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* * *

**PEEK AT THE NEXT CHAPTER: **

* * *

While Sakura had beautifully mastered the "fake smile," which her teammates have now figured out and are wary of, her mother had mastered "the voice" and had years of experience to fool just about anyone. But being her daughter, Sakura detected the subtly as quickly as Naruto detected bad ramen.

"I didn't make it." Sakura replied, annoyed. "Sasuke-kun did."

Sasuke looked as if he didn't exactly want anyone to know he was pretty handy in the kitchen, which he didn't. The last thing he wanted was to leave her the image of him in some girly apron. Still, he might have scored a point or so with the mother. So it was kind of worth it, he suppose.

"Lovely, _lovely_ onigiri." Ayaka sounded actually excited about it now, but she caught herself soon after and smiled reassuring at Sakura. "Not that I wouldn't have loved yours, sweetie."

"Of course not." Sakura glared slightly at her mother, who didn't seem to mind it.


End file.
